Manchester United travel to Sunderland today to face one of the Premier League's relegation strugglers. Manchester United last weekend came from 2-1 down to beat Aston Villa 3-2 in the late stages of the match, we then thought that, that result could Spur United on against Porto (that didn't happen) but I am hoping that it could give United some confidence in the Premier League.

Defensively United have looked frail recently and we are without Ferdinand and probably Evans today so we could look fragile again. But saying that, no offence to Sunderland but if we want to win the title then we do have to beat teams like Sunderland who are struggling down at the bottom of the table, if we don't then we can't complain. Nothing less than a win today will be satisfactory.

So, like I said, United will be without Ferdinand and Evans is a doubt but we are also without Anderson, Rafael, Berbatov and Brown. Rooney is in the squad even though has been suffering with a rib injury.

Sunderland do have an injury doubt themselves, their skipper Whitehead is a big doubt after suffering with a calf injury. There is some better news for them though, Tainio and Davenport should be back after recovering from injury and returning from suspension respectively.

Sunderland will prove to be tough opponents, they are struggling and against Man United when nobody expects them to get anything, they have nothing to loose and that can sometimes be more dangerous.

Squads:

Sunderland: Fulop, Gordon, Bardsley, Ferdinand, Ben-Haim, Collins, Nosworthy, Davenport, McShane, Edwards, Malbranque, Whitehead, Leadbitter, Richardson, Reid, Tainio, Murphy, Jones, Cisse.

Man United: Van der Sar, Foster, Kuszczak, O'Shea, Neville, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Eckersley, Ronaldo, Nani, Fletcher, Gibson, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Park, Rooney, Tevez, Welbeck, Macheda.